16th Annual WGI Zebbie Awards – New Submissions Platform Opens Thursday, 22nd June
16th Annual WGI Zebbie Awards – New Submissions Platform Opens Thursday, 22nd June
To mark our 16th year of recognising and celebrating the very best of Irish writing for screen, theatre & radio, the Writers’ Guild of Ireland Zebbie Awards are moving to a submissions system, asking you to submit your produced scripts for consideration.
Our FilmFreeway page launches today, Thursday, 22nd June 2023 – it’s your one-stop, easy-to-use portal for everything you need to know about submitting your scripts for the 2023 Zebbie Awards.
https://filmfreeway.com/ZebbieAwards2023
As many of you know, the Zebbie Awards are named in honour of O.Z. (Zebby) Whitehead, American stage and film character actor (The Grapes of Wrath), Dublin resident in later life, and enthusiastic supporter of theatre and new writing through the OZ Whitehead Awards. WGI board members John Lynch & Thomas McLaughlin, founded our own Zebbie Awards in 2007, to continue that great tradition of celebrating the very best scripts by Irish writers.
WGI Chair, Jennifer Davidson, said: “The annual Zebbie Awards are one of the high points of every year for us in the Writers’ Guild. In an industry that often likes to forget that writers exist, it’s always such a privilege for us to be able to celebrate the best writing talent. And in a year when our colleagues in the WGA are fighting hard for better treatment for all writers, recognising writers and their scripts feels even more important than ever. Moving to a new submissions system will, we hope, only serve to strengthen the value and importance of the Zebbie Awards.”
While the Zebbie submission system has changed, the categories remain the same; Best Radio Drama Script, Best Animation Script, Best Theatre Script, Best Short Film Script, Best Feature Film Script, Best TV Drama Script and Best Continuing Drama Script. And as always, the Zebbies welcomes submissions from all writers living on the island of Ireland and Irish writers living abroad.
For the episodic categories (Animation, TV Drama & Continuing Drama), we’re asking writers (or writing teams) to submit one script per writer, per series.
A shortlist of 3 scripts in each category will be announced in September, and WGI members will have the opportunity to read those scripts and vote to decide on the winning scripts in each category.
The submissions window will open from Thursday, 22nd June 2023 until midnight Tuesday, 11th July 2023. Which means, you’ve got 3 weeks to dig out your favourite produced script (yes it is good enough!) and send it into us. Once it’s been broadcast, staged or screened in Ireland, or streamed to an Irish audience between January 1st and December 31st 2022, you’re in.
The glitzy (writers can do glitz!) Zebbies Awards Event will take place on Tuesday, 17th October 2023 in our hallowed awards ground; The Sugar Club, Dublin 2.
The WGI gratefully acknowledges the generous support of both the ICLA and Coimisiún na Meán.
For further info:
Catherine Maher, Event Manager, Zebbie Awards 23